It is minus twenty outside as I write this and the heat from a summer's sun couldn't be further away. An overcast sky diffuses the winter sun and a wind is driving snow against the windows. This seems like a perfect time to get into the kitchen and practice drying food so that I won't have to lug a huge amount of weight this summer.
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| Carrying a lot of crap (Christina Lake down there) |
The idea of dehydrating food comes from discovering an ultra - lightweight camper named
Ray Jardine. His name was briefly mentioned in the movie "Wild" and I was curious to know more about his system of lightweight camping.
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| The man himself |
One thing that Mr. Jardine does is to take all the moisture out of his food and then by rehydration at camp, the food becomes edible. My daughter has a sophisticated dehydrator that I am allowed to use but only with organic and vegan food.
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| Very sophisticated |
Sitting in the fridge was a huge bunch of purple grapes which I knew I could not finish before they spoilt so it was a no-brainer that I would start my dehydrating with them. What I wanted to make was fruit leather. A healthy, chewy, light treat for the trail.
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| Doing the reverse |
The
Vitamix got a slight workout grinding up the grapes into a glop that spread easily onto the dehydrator tray and within a couple of hours, I was able to turn over the "leather" to dry it on its reverse side.
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| The end result |
I surprised myself that I could make fruit leather so easily and in so little time. Maybe I will be toting a lot less weight this summer on one of my bike camping trips.
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| Look at all the crap |
While I will continue making dried foods (spaghetti sauce is next), I next want to try eliminating my three and a half pound tent using Ray Jardine's kit for a tarp that offers shelter for mere ounces!
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| Here it is |
